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2012: Perry outshines Bachmann in Waterloo

That’s the take from Politico: “[T]he contrast that may lift Perry, and undermine Bachmann, in their high-stakes battle for Iowa had less to do with what they said than how they said it — and what they did before and after speaking. Perry arrived early… The Texas governor let a media throng grow and dissolve before working his way across the room to sit at table after table, shake hand after hand, pose for photographs and listen politely…, paying respect to a state that expects candidates, no matter their fame, to be accessible. But Bachmann campaigned like a celebrity. And the event highlighted the brittle, presidential-style cocoon that has become her campaign’s signature: a routine of late entries, unexplained absences, quick exits, sharp-elbowed handlers with matching lapel pins, and pre-selected questioners.”

NBC’s Jamie Novogrod reports on some of the stagecraft at last night’s dueling Bachmann and Perry speeches, including the differences in lighting and music. Both campaigns set up their own lights -- Perry's a set of tungsten lights, and Bachmann's a set of HMI (daylight) lights, according to an event organizer. The organizer says the Bachmann campaign directed the house to shut off its HMI lights during Perry's speech. After Perry's speech -- and just before Bachmann took the stage -- the HMI lights were restored. The campaign confirms that request was made, and attributes it to production reasons. The campaign says you can't mix HMI and Tungsten lights at the same time, and asked the house to use each set during each candidate's assigned time. The HMIs are certainly brighter, and the lighting in the room changed dramatically before Bachmann's speech.

Bachmann's music at the beginning and end of her speech was louder than Perry's. This made the event organizer unhappy. "We had a couple speakers scheduled to speak after her,” he said, “and we were going to do our big ask for our fundraiser, but as soon as she was done, the music blasted up, she started signing autographs, … and people just started leaving. So two speakers missed their chance to speak, and we missed our ask to the Republicans here for our fundraising -- extra money that we needed to carry for the caucus."

The Boston Globe looks at the different kinds of Mormons that Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are: “[I]n public remarks they have drawn strikingly different religious self-portraits. Romney is highly active and orthodox -- he was a top local lay leader in Massachusetts for years, and he has embraced his church unequivocally: ‘I believe in my Mormon faith and endeavor to live by it,’ he said in a major speech in 2007. Huntsman has called his adherence to Mormon practices ‘tough to define.’”

BACHMANN: In a speech that ran just over 29 minutes, Novogrod reports, Bachmann mentioned her roots in Iowa and/or the city of Waterloo at least 16 times.

The New York Daily News writes that Bachmann “stammered a bit on ‘Meet the Press’ after David Gregory asked her if her view of gay marriage was the same thing she expressed in 2004 when she said being gay was ‘part of Satan.’ ‘I'm not running to be anyone's judge. I do stand very—‘ Gregory cut her off to say ‘you have judged them.’ Then a bit flustered, she replied, ‘I, I, I don't judge them. I don't judge them. I am running for presidency of the United States.’”

John McCormack notes in The Weekly Standard: “While Bachmann certainly has a reputation for drawing intense and loyal support from Tea Partiers and evangelicals, almost all of the Bachmann supporters I spoke to today in Ames said they weren't certain to support her in the Iowa caucuses.” (Hat tip: GOP 12.)

ROMNEY: Mitt Romney's worth between $190 million to $250 million dollars,” Roll Call wrote Saturday. “Romney's Friday night disclosure of his personal finances, which include value ranges for various sources of income, assets and investments, is required of all presidential candidates.”

PALIN: “Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) said her decision on whether to run for president is due ‘in short order,’ likely meaning no later than the end of September,” The Hill writes.

PAWLENTY: “On paper, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty seemed to have all the right ingredients as a Republican presidential candidate,” the AP writes, adding, “But Pawlenty struggled to connect. He came off as bland and rehearsed next to more dynamic contenders. He languished in the polls. The candidacy of Governor Rick Perry of Texas shoved Pawlenty further to the side.”

“While other candidates have withdrawn from the GOP nomination the day after Ames (e.g. Tommy Thompson in 2007) Pawlenty is by far the quickest to pull the trigger on his campaign among third place finishers in the history of the Straw Poll,” the University of Minnesota’s Smart Politics blog writes.

PERRY: “Governor Rick Perry of Texas, buoyed by the splash of his nascent presidential campaign, arrived here yesterday to a crush of supporters as he entered a Waterloo dining hall with a disco ball on the ceiling,” the Boston Globe reports. Ever quotable, here’s a wrap of Perry’s soundbites from the dinner: “‘Good to have you back on board, brother,’ he told one man. ‘Give me five’ he yelled at a young boy. ‘That’s a boy!’ ‘Yes, ma’am,’ he told an older woman after she asked for (and received) a big hug. ‘Thank you. Keep us in your prayers.’ As he walked away, she squealed to a friend, ‘He’s a good old Southern boy!’ ‘These people are just - it’s all friendly,’ Perry said. ‘You’d think you was in Texas if you didn’t know better.’”

“Texas Gov. Rick Perry is expected to run a disciplined, anti-Washington presidential campaign modeled on his successful takedown of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary,” Roll Call says. “Perry's March 2010 victory, initially unexpected, harnessed tea party energy and conservative angst with the federal government — offering an early glimpse of what was to come in November of that year. But interviews with Texas Republicans familiar with Perry's career and an examination of old campaign ads reveal a politician with considerably more range than recent history suggests — and one who is capable of reinvention when necessary.”

The Texas Tribune writes that Perry has changed his tone on the HPV controversy. "For years, Gov. Rick Perry has taken flak for his 2007 attempt to require girls to be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus, the most commonly sexually transmitted disease and the principal cause of cervical cancer. At the risk of angering fellow conservatives, Perry has always insisted he did the right thing. That unapologetic approach changed this weekend."

The Statesman's Embry also notes a new style from the Texas governor on full display Sunday night in Waterloo. "In his gubernatorial campaigns, Perry usually goes to great lengths to avoid his opponents, and he usually arrives at events shortly before his remarks and departs soon after. But not this Perry. "